LIBRARY+MEDIA+PROGRAM

After careful planning with a committee to organize a media program that compliments the unique curriculum of my particular school, I need to begin advertising and promoting it.

By understanding the changes of the past, it will help me to plan for the future. The 1975 standards set heavy emphasis on teacher and media specialist planning. This will ensure that students will be using the media center. The basic mission set forth in **//Information Power// in 1988** is still relevant today; to provide intellectual and physical access to materials in all formats, provide instruction, and work with other educators. My job is to use the information literacy standards for student learning to create and maintain a program for a broad learning community including students, teachers, administrators, parents, and the neighborhood. **(//Information Power//, 1998)**

To prepare for the technology changes that are among us, the media committee and I must design a media program that is abreast with the rapid changes. I will seek information and knowledge by reading publications such as Dan Pink’s book, //A Whole New Mind.// What is utterly expected from the media program is for the media program to be integrated into the school’s curriculum so that students develop information skills as they learn the objectives. Teachers have to begin changing the way they instruct the kids and I have to provide them with learning strategies to make the necessary changes less stressful for them.

The things that will shape and influence the media program I design are school characteristics, environment, and my role as the media specialist. The professional guidelines, **//Standards for the 21st-Century Learner//**, are like a fence set around the program.

I need to know the school’s characteristics in order to plan an effective program. The impact of the media program on elementary age students are developing skills such as reading, computation, and small groups with guidance. Elementary students should be surrounded by great literature offered in a variety of ways. The middle school age students are more independent using small group activities with some competition. Electronics and current event discussions appeal to them also.

According to [|David Loertscher], a library media specialist is the enforcer of the four main program elements and considers the goals of the school, the level, nature of the curriculum, the cultural diversity of the students, also the district, state, and national visions. That person has a solid teaching background and understanding of how materials and technology can impact learning. **(//Taxonomies of the School Library Media Program//, 1989)**

While planning the library media program, I must recognize the need for change and take lead of the situation. I must be persuasive when meeting with the library media committee and provide them with my vision for success for the whole community of learners. As we progress onto the electronic information highway, I am the main catalyst needed to integrate the newest technologies and resources into the curriculum. It is critical to the whole school’s success that I collaborate with teachers and administrators in curriculum and lesson planning. I will also provide staff development to teachers so that we may work toward teaching students the much needed information access skills that will be the basis for their lifelong learning. If needed, I will come into the classrooms and teach differentiated lessons using a variety of technologies and strategies to provide additional support. One way that I can sell the program is to convince teachers that there is an easier way to do things. All teachers would like to feel as if their workload was lighter and this can be achieved if we all work together to meet subject matter needs!

The principal is the first person that I have to “sell” the media program to. If the school doesn’t have a collaborative team planning the curriculum, then I have to provide data and research showing how it is beneficial. The principal is the person who will set everyone else in action. The faculty will be harder to convince. I should keep the focus of change about the benefits to the students. By aligning library activities with the school curriculum, the value of the library media center is enhanced.

Ben Carson believes a media specialist must convey three messages to a principal; I care, I am excited about what I am doing, and I know what I am doing. (//Interacting// //for Excellence//, 1989) I personally feel as if my personality fits the role to establish an inviting library media environment. I am genuinely helpful, accepting, and open. I am dedicated to a goal when I set my mind to it. I am enthusiastic and hard working as well as versatile to change. My weakness is procrastination if I don’t fully understand the task at hand. This is why planning goals for the media program is very important.

Personal relation skills are important to have when you want to build relationships with the whole community to create a warm and inviting environment in the media center. I believe that part of public relations is knowing how to read people, or noticing their body language. When eye contact is made, a smile is always the best way to greet someone. If I am an effective leader, I may be able to create a positive environment throughout the whole school!

Being aware of effective communication is important when planning a media program. Face to face is best, then small group. When the messages are given through email, flyers, phones, or letters, the message may become confused. It is always best to have someone proofread your message before sending to make sure it is clear and free from oversights or mistakes.

The definition of a curriculum-based program is to enhance and extend classroom learning through the use of varied resources and to prepare students for lifetime use of libraries and information sources. This requires change which is not easy. For me this means that I will have to work harder to be knowledgeable about the characteristics of my school and the children, be knowledgeable about the whole curriculum, and know how to plan and evaluate instruction, and plan collaboratively. **(//Achieving a Curriculum-Based Library Media Center Program//, 1995)**

The library media center should serve as an extension to classroom studies. This cannot happen if I don’t know what is being taught in the classrooms. I must gather lesson plans from teachers, curriculum guides, textbooks in use, strategies that teachers use, test data, and former successes in instruction to become knowledgeable enough to be an instructional leader in a curriculum-based program. I should become familiar with any special programs being used in the school. After I collect the information, I need to enlist the help of a teacher and both of us analyze the collection of resources on a topic of instruction. Most library systems are automated and I can print a report about the collection, but if not, I can compute an average age of a collection. I should also test the collection for relevancy and variety.

Now according to the latest standards, a media specialist’s job is to be included in the planning process, provide resources, and help students use those resources as part of classroom instruction. I must also continue to learn to keep up with the continuous changes in technology and developments in research about how students learn. I must not get lax in my own learning so I will be an effective agent for change.

Engaging all students is a very challenging task. I often struggle with it in my own classroom right now. **Meyer** and O’Neill say students who are not engaged in learning are unlikely to progress well. I can help teachers with providing the diverse teaching tools. Some students may use the tool in the classroom while others may use it in the media center. Learning takes place when three systems of the brain connect; recognition, strategy, and affect. The learner’s interest in the content being addressed is important for learning. If possible, the content should be matched to individual interests. The classroom teacher recognizes the significance of matching individual interests to content but lacks the time to collect the resources for doing it. This is where I can be of use to by knowing the content being taught and knowing about the students. (//Supporting the Motivation to Learn: How Universal Design for Learning Can Help//, 2000)

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">To help me accommodate teachers planning for individual learning styles, I can use researched based instructional strategies. Gagne, Briggs, and Wagner devised a set of instructional events that should guide me as an instructional consultant engaged in planning individual lessons or units of instruction. The events are not in sequential order, but should all be covered: stimulate recall of prior learning (this provides memory hooks); present material in an appropriate rate (physical and substantive); provide learning guidance (being careful to promote self-sufficient learners); elicit performance (active participation enhances learning and for evaluation); provide feedback (important emotionally for the learner); assess performance; enhance retention and transfer (skills are retained better than facts.) These events are to be used as a tool and should be presented in large blocks of instruction. (//Principles of Instructional Design//, 1988)

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Still with all of the talk of change and 21st century skills, teaching is largely of a traditional manner with excessive use of workbooks, seatwork, and lectures. I know our principal in our school has stressed the point of meeting in small groups with every student in the classroom. She expects to see this when she enters our Reading block. As a media specialist, I must evaluate the teaching strategies of the faculty to see what strategies I can model for them.